U of T and the city are strong partners, President Gertler tells Board of Trade

Jun 2, 2014
| Terry Lavender

President Meric Gertler addresses the Toronto Region Board of Trade (photo by John Guatto)

A strong university helps build a strong
city and a strong city helps build a strong university, President
Meric Gertler told a sold-out
audience at the Toronto Region Board of Trade May 29.

Among those who listened to Gertler’s message of the need for
town-gown collaboration were Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat
and Ryerson University President Sheldon Levy, as well as U of T
Chancellor Michael Wilson, former U of T Chancellors David
Peterson, and Hal Jackman, Governing Council Chair Judy Goldring
and former U of T President Robert Prichard.

Gertler used the example of the University of Toronto and the City
of Toronto to illustrate his point: “U of T and Toronto are
simply exemplars of a world-class, research-intensive university on
the one hand and a major global city-region on the other.”

For example, he pointed out, Toronto benefits from the U of T
through the economic stimulus of $250 million in local research
collaboration, and the spending of 16,000 employees and 80,000
students.

“When you add up all the salaries and benefits paid to our
faculty and staff (and the purchasing power they represent), as well
as the expenditures of the University and our students, the U of T
community contributes an economic stimulus of $12 billion annually to
the province of Ontario, with most of that stimulus within the GTA
– that’s about 20% more than the City’s entire
annual operating budget,” said Gertler.

In addition, 16,500 students graduate from the university each
year, he said, with most getting jobs in the Toronto region.

“Toronto is a terrific place to build a career in nearly any
field, and employers in this region clearly benefit from the supply
of well-educated graduates flowing from its universities and
colleges.”

He also pointed to community services provided by students, such
as the dentistry students who serve 78,000 patient-visits each year,
and the students who work with community partners at the East
Scarborough Storefront, serving the social needs of residents in
Kingston-Galloway and Orton Park.

Gertler noted U of T’s success in fostering entrepreneurism.
In the past three years, he said, the university’s students and
faculty have created more start-up companies than any other North
American university, ahead of MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Caltech, Harvard
and others.

But the president emphasized that this entrepreneurial success
depends on a strong Toronto.

“Much of this success is due to the remarkable students,
faculty, and staff on our three campuses. But we must also give
credit to the very special region in which we are situated,” he
acknowledged. “You cannot plunk a university just anywhere and
expect it to trigger the formation of a local innovation cluster. The
Toronto region’s success as an emerging innovation and
entrepreneurship powerhouse rests equally on its tremendous
multi-sectoral, convergent strength. This unusually diverse economic
base provides a powerful spark for innovation and entrepreneurship,
drawing on a rich environment of specialized suppliers and
services.”

And U of T benefits from international students and researchers who
are attracted by Toronto’s cultural liveliness, social harmony,
safe and vibrant neighbourhoods and schools and libraries, Gertler
said.

The president said U of T is ready to work with local governments
– along with Ryerson, York, OCAD and other institutions –
to help address the region’s most pressing challenges.

“I know we can make this region an even better place in which
to live, study, work and prosper,” he concluded.

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We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.